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The American company UNIVAC began as the "business" computer division of Remington Rand formed by the purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) in 1950. (EMCC was the company founded by, and named after, the two inventors/architects of the ENIAC.)

History and structure

The most famous UNIVAC product was the UNIVAC I mainframe computer of 1951. It came into the limelight with a bang when it predicted the outcome of the U.S. presidential election the following year.

In 1953 or 1954 Remington Rand merged their tabulating machine division in Norwalk, Connecticut, the Engineering Research Associates "scientific" computer division, and the UNIVAC "business" computer division into a single division under the UNIVAC name.

In 1955 Remington Rand merged with Sperry Corporation to become Sperry Rand. The UNIVAC division of Remington Rand was renamed Sperry UNIVAC. General Douglas McArthur was chosen to head the company.

UNIVAC was one of the eight major computer companies (with IBM - the largest, Burroughs, Scientific Data Systems, Control Data Corporation, General Electric, RCA and Honeywell) through most of the 1960s. (During the 1970s, the major player was IBM, with five others grouped under the rubric "The BUNCH." BUNCH was an acronym for Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell. Sperry bought out RCA's interest in computers during the 1970s.)

In 1978 Sperry Rand, an old fashioned conglomerate of disharmonious divisions (computers, typewriters, office furniture, hay balers, manure spreaders, gyroscopes, avionics, radar, electric razors), decided to concentrate on its computing interests and unrelated divisions were sold. The company dropped the Rand from its title and reverted back to Sperry Corporation.

In 1986, Sperry Corporation merged with (some may opine "was subjected to a hostile takeover by") Burroughs Corporation to become Unisys.

Since the 1986 marriage of Burroughs and Sperry, Unisys has metamorphosed from a computer manufacturer to a computer services firm, competing in the same marketplace as IBM, EDS, and Computer Sciences Corporation. Such companies design and operate computer system environments (hardware, software, networks and operating schemes), for businesses whose leaders decide not to do that work internally. This is commonly called outsourcing.

Unisys continues to design and manufacture proprietary, mainframe-class computers and associated software.

Models

• The UNIVAC 418 was a computer in the UNIVAC line produced by Sperry Rand, and the first approach to the establishing of a "table-top" computer. The whole machine was just small enough to fit on the top of a standard office desk. The only one that was known to exist as a working machine was seen in Univac headquarters in London around 1964. It was intended to demonstrate the system at Olympia at the Computer Industries Exhibition. This machine was one of the forerunners of the personal computer.

• UNIVAC III sucessor to the UNIVAC I and II models, used by the US military.

External links

• UNIVAC® Memories;
• Unisys History Newsletter.

UNIVAC® has been, over the years, a registered trademark of Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, Remington Rand Corporation, Sperry Rand Corporation, Sperry Corporation, and Unisys Corporation.

• Defunct computer companies of the United States